These would be good handouts to help students with exploring the constellations and identifying them. They would also provide a graphic organizer of information for students. Cynthia

Possible handout for students. Cynthia

Graphic Organizers to help students identify and arrange the planets. Cynthia

Handout for students for further exploration.

Google Sky will be used throughout the presentation to instruct students on navigation of the application. Cynthia

I am considering this as another possibility for my authentic assessment. I have one assessment about the constellations and I would like one about the planets. This one is simple, but asks pertinent facts that should be found through our exploration of Google Sky. This could also be a handout for students to take with them. Cynthia

I am also considering this for a possible authentic assessment alternative to the Astronomy Kids site. I just found this and I like the simplicity of it. Cynthia

This is a video that I will incorporate into my presentation. This introduces Google Sky to students and gives basic navigation information for the constellations and the planets. I like it better than some others because it uses the application we will be exploring during the workshop. Cynthia

This is another part of my Graphic Organizer which will be used to help students identify the constellations, planets, and other Sky objects. This will be partnered with a worksheet that will help them to draw out the constellations and understand their placement as they explore Google Sky. Cynthia

This is one of two sites that I will be using in my Graphic Organizer and Presentation. This site is a compilation of various astronomy resources, games, and presentations for kids. I love it because it has very bright graphics and is easy to navigate. This will be the introduction to the Solar System which will give the students information to use in their authentic assessment. They can view this via my laptop with the LCD Projector and a large screen. Although it will be a visual or graphic, it will also be part of the presentation. The graphic organizer will be the actual tabs that will show pictures of the different planets and then we will click on each planet to view more information which will be needed in the authentic assessment. Cynthia

This is one of two sites for my authentic assessment activity. This specific game allows the students to identify the constellations and their location in the night sky after they have explored Google Earth and Google Sky. This will help me to see if they have acquired knowledge of the constellations and planets as they appear in the sky. I like this game in particularly because it allows you to draw the constellations and it is very kid friendly. I found many sites, but they are technical and require downloads. Cynthia

This is my second choice for a Pre-training activity. This leads us into our subject matter, but still allows us to use basic computer skills to navigate. I like this site because it is simple and nothing has to be downloaded in order for the students to explore. It is very kid friendly and not quite as technical for third graders as some of the other sites I visited. Cynthia

Pre-Training Introduction\n\nThis is a pumpkin carving site. It allows students to use basic skills to carve pumpkins and post them to the gallery for viewing. This will allow me to see which students are able to navigate the mouse, click and drag, save and post without them realizing they are actually completing a pre-training task. I checked out several pumpkin carving sites before I chose this one. I like it better because it allows students to choose multiple tools to use and also provides them with a broader scale of navigational skills to explore and learn. This will help us in our plotting of our activities in Google Earth/Sky later in the workshop. Cynthia